Special Offer From "All About Spelling"

I received this offer from All About Spelling this morning, and since it is one of my very favorite programs, I decided to share.

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I have good news and bad news for you.

First the bad news...We are located in the upper Midwest, and severe storms on Tuesday morning left us without power. Due to the power outage, orders that were placed this week were delayed for a few days. We are told that we should have power restored this weekend, and if all goes according to plan, we will ship all orders on Monday via USPS Priority Mail.

Now for the good news...To thank everyone for their patience this week, we want to give you a free gift that you can use right away, without having to wait for shipment. When you place any order, no matter how small, we'll give you the All About Homophones book for free, and you can download it immediately. This popular e-book sells for $27.95 on our website, but today it won't cost you a cent!

Here's how to claim your free book with any purchase: 

1. Add any product(s) to your cart.
2. Do not add the All About Homophones e-book to your cart quite yet.
3. In the upper left corner of the cart, you'll see a box that says "Special Code." Type in these three letters, all in capital letters: AAH. Then click the "Apply" button.
4. The free All About Homophones ebook will appear just above where you enter your shipping information. Click the orange "Add to Cart" button.

You'll receive this e-book automatically, without delay! Enjoy!

Staying warm in chilly Northern Wisconsin,
Marie Rippel :)
www.AllAboutSpelling.com

P.S. If you placed an order on or after October 26, we have already sent you your free copy of the All About Homophones ebook.

P.P.S. Could you please help me spread the word about this special coupon code? Copy and paste these instructions onto Facebook or your blog! This offer ends on Monday, November 1. Thank you for all of your support during this rough week!

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It's All Coming Together!

It has been so nice to finally see Madeline reading and enjoying it.  All of the components seem to be coming together for her now.  She has now read two longer books.  Well, longer than the Bob Books she has been reading.  She finished "Mouse Soup" in a couple of sittings and then today I let her pick a new book from several that I had.  She chose "Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia."  She sat down with me and read the entire book with me.  She was so excited to find out what happened next that she even forgot in some parts that we were taking turns reading, and she just kept going.  She thought Amelia Bedelia was "just so funny!"  Luckily I have a few more Amelia Bedelia books, so I think we will continue reading them.  Hopefully the interest will hold for a while!  

Reading for Pleasure

I have noticed over the past few weeks that Madeline has begun to read more and more for pleasure.  She is picking up both fiction and nonfiction books and reading... not just looking at the pictures.  And it is of her own free will, not because I have told her it is time to read.  I could not be happier!  I have even found her reading in bed by flashlight! 

Reading & Writing

Madeline has been making good progress in reading recently.  I have been very happy with the ClickN Read Phonics Program. She has also been using the ABeCeDarian Reading Program along with several sets of Bob Books that I picked up.

 I wanted to add some additional language and writing activities for her.  I really like to idea of a daily journaling time, but I needed motivation for her.  So, I found this book

It contains lots of writing prompts, some of which are a bit too advanced for Madeline right now... the book is recommended for grades 2-6... but some which will work now.  I figured that I would be able to use the ideas for years to come.

I also picked up a couple of out writing resources.  This one has daily practice activities correlated to the 6 Traits of Writing.  I am planning to explain the activities to her and then let her work independently on them.

This book has lots of writing prompts and provides guidance on topic development.  I thought it had a lot of good ideas.

I am also thinking about spelling.  Earlier in the year I thought that I would be using the Making Words books and that would provide an easy spelling list.  I decided not to use those books, however, since the work is very similar to that in the ABeCeDarian Reading Program.  So, I am going to pull spelling words from the work Madeline is doing in both the ABeCeDarian Reading Program as well as from word lists that are provided with the ClickNRead program.  ClickN Read provides both a list of words she is learning in the program as well as Dolch word lists for pre-primer, primer, first grade, second grade, and third grade.  

So, that is my plan for now.  I think it is a good one!

Beginning Reading and Writing Resources

My sister, Kris, asked me about teaching beginning reading and writing, so I thought I would post some of the resources we have found useful. This is not a comprehensive list of all of the things we have used. Some materials we have tried for a while and found that they are not a great fit for us. I will not bother to list them here.

I really like the book How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann. I think I favor it since my Master's program was focused on Direct Instruction, and so it is very familiar to me. I find it very easy to use and very systematic. The kids have found success with it.

We have also really enjoyed using Systematic Sequential Phonics They Use. The lessons are simple and relatively quick for those with short attention spans.

We have also used the Letter Factory DVD by Leap Frog for learning the letter sounds.

We have also found a few great websites.

Starfall (http://www.starfall.com/) has lots of reading resources and it is FREE! They have great little songs for remembering vowel sounds and all of the girls have just loved the stories, especially Zac the Rat and Gus the Duck.

We have also used Headsprout (http://www.headsprout.com/). The girls have enjoyed the "episodes" in this program, and I have certainly seen great improvement in their skills as they have progressed through the program. Madeline is almost finished with the program and Isabella is about a third of the way through.

As I stated in another post, we have recently started using ClickN Read Phonics (http://www.clicknread.com/). I think this program is a bit more comprehensive than the Headsprout program. It does require them to find the letters on the keyboard. It has the added benefit of the child being able to start on any lesson, based on his or her ability. This was great for Madeline since I felt that there were skills that she still needed reinforcement with, but she certainly did not need to start all over at the beginning. Also, with ClickN Read Phonics, once one child has completed the program another can begin at no extra cost.

To help the girls enjoy literature and its elements (including illustrations), we have used Before Five in A Row and Five in a Row. This program uses children's literature to teach language arts, social studies, science, math, and art. Both the girls and I have enjoyed reading the stories and they have learned about things like onomatopoeia, where Paris is located, and different mediums illustrators use. You can find the guides at http://www.fiveinarow.com/. The only difficulty is that then you either have to buy the children's books to go along with it or find them in your library.

As for writing, I have found the Handwriting Without Tears program to be a great curriculum for teaching letter formation (http://www.hwtears.com/). It provides many different ways for the children to experience the letters (and numbers). The girls have really enjoyed the activities from this program. Madeline was particularly fascinated with the wood pieces when she was younger.

That is all I can think of, for now.

A Reading Frenzy

The girls have been doing lots of reading recently.

Hailey's pretty sure that she can read, and knows just about every word to It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw. It is really strange to hear her "read" the words "Great Horned Owl"!

Madeline can now read Monarch! Come Play with Me by Ba Rea at an almost independent level.



Bella really likes to read Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. I think Bill has read this book to the girls 100+ times!

Bella shared her book with Hailey!

ClickN READ Phonics

Madeline and Isabella have begun using a new computer-based phonics program to improve their reading skills. They both seem to really like the program and are showing improvement in their phonics skills. One nice feature of the program is that I was able to determine the beginning lesson for each of the girls, with the help of the program's guide. They can also repeat lessons as often as I would like them to. Additionally, the subscription is "lifetime," and once one child has completed the program he or she can be deleted and a new child can be added at no extra cost. This was a plus for us since Hailey will be able to use the program as well. The 100 lessons of this program as said to take a child from K to a 3rd grade level.

ClickN READ's website states:

The Worlds Most Advanced Learn To Read Phonics Software Program.
Guaranteed to teach children to learn read or your money back!
Visit ClickN READ Phonics learning to read web site for more information.

We'll keep you updated on Madeline and Isabella's progress.